


slow the pace (be ready to go)

by Highsmith (quimtessence)



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Upside Down, Banter, Bisexual Steve Harrington, Developing Relationship, Enemies to Lovers, Friends Tell It to You Straight, Gay Billy Hargrove, Getting Together, Harringrove Holiday Exchange 2019, Humour, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, M/M, Snark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-01
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:48:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21855544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quimtessence/pseuds/Highsmith
Summary: Billy Hargrove is a pain in Steve's behind. Like,obviously.
Relationships: Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington, Robin Buckley & Steve Harrington
Comments: 19
Kudos: 220
Collections: Harringrove Holiday Exchange 2019





	slow the pace (be ready to go)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Guineforts](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Guineforts/gifts).



> Even though the title is from New Edition's "Cool It Now," I am not cool. Neither is Steve in this. Billy likes him anyway, though.
> 
> Happy holidays!

"Yo! Princess!"

_Shit._

Steve almost spills the backflush cleaner he's been trying to spoon into the filter basket all over the back counter and the clean stack of to-go cups before he steadies himself, bites his tongue, and does his best not to make a mess this fine Monday morning. Nance is manning the cash register and Byers is making the orders up front, which should ideally mean Steve should be able to get the last of the espresso machines cleaned-up in blessed peace and quiet before the day's second freshman stampede. One would think. But Billy Hargrove is trouble and a _pest_.

Steve kind of really hates that asshole. Like, the passion of a thousand burning suns doesn't quite cut it to describe how much he _hates that asshole_. But not like he'd push him down the stairs or anything, though he wouldn't mind shutting him up every once in a while. Steve's not one hundred percent sure whether it's the fact that Hargrove's into dudes that lets him get away with calling Steve _princess_ rather loudly, among more embarrassing things. Steve's got a feeling that's not an entirely kosher thing to think. It could just be because people genuinely think he's cool or some such shit, but calling him out on anything _decidedly_ does not work on Billy Hargrove. Like, Steve should know that fairly well by now.

He's pretty sure Hargrove is, like, a drug dealer or something. Like, they smoked up once after the end of Steve's shift, behind the dumpsters out back in fact, Hargrove offering the joint like a peace offering, presumably for being a dick to Steve on an almost daily basis. Steve's not stupid enough to turn down free weed, but Hargrove's still kind of a creep and maybe a criminal. Like, Hargrove stared at Steve's mouth for half the time, never mind they both stood in the half-shadows cast against the street lights, and the staring made all of Steve's blood run in unfortunate directions. Like it was a joke. Because it clearly was.

That thought kind of ruined Steve's buzz at the time, and he peaced out only a few minutes after Hargrove ashed the roach, not quite knowing what had possessed him to nod and follow Hargrove out to begin with. He doesn't give more than a passing thought to the big question mark of why Hargrove was playing nice all of a sudden.

Without exception he spends most of the time Hargrove is at The Bean trying and failing to shoo him out. It would all go overall a lot better on that front if either Nancy or Byers also went all in on the shooing, but Steve could see how they're not nearly as bothered by Hargrove as _he_ is on an almost daily basis, given how the asshole in question doesn't seem to have the same penchant for fucking with them as he does with Steve. It's very annoying. Obviously. Steve spends his days in a constant state of annoyance around him.

Now Hargrove's nearing the counter, Steve can see him swaggering over from the corner of his eye half-turned as he is in front of the row of coffee machines, and focuses on not giving him, like, the attention and shit Hargrove so clearly wants. Nancy is on cash register duty still, but she doesn't even manage to get a word out before Hargrove bellows, "No offence, but King Steve has my order down pat, you know." And because Nance is a traitor, Steve hears her say, "Steve, you're needed up front."

It's only Monday, but Steve hates everything already.

*

The problem is that Hargrove makes this _difficult_. The moment Steve believes he's got him figured out, he starts in on another streak of being an annoying asshat, almost like he can't stop himself. If he's not calling Steve emasculating nicknames in a room full of people, then he's complaining very loudly about the abysmal state of his order and how his hard-earned money is buying him low-grade sugary water. Steve hates him the most in those moments, when he has to grit his teeth and not make a scene, Nancy puckering her lips from the sidelines and Byers motioning for him to keep it civil.

But then there's the times, utterly confusing times for the most part, when he's not giving Steve a hard time from across the counter, and the few occasions where they can share the alley out back while catching a quick smoke, or even that one time during finals last semester when Steve was having what could loosely be described as a hard time of it but was more accurately him losing his grasp on his life, and Hargrove refrained from being a dick and actually put in a good word with Steve's TA to get him an extension that Tommy agreed to immediately, to Steve's utter surprise. It's very possible, Steve debated with himself once finals were done and he'd turned everything in, that Hargrove and Tommy had a _thing_ going. But he was much too grateful by that point to ask any questions.

Unsurprisingly, the gratitude evaporated to pure annoyance once more by the time summer ended, but Steve almost likes it better that way, if he's to be completely honest here. Liking Hargrove is a slippery slope of bad decisions at three in the morning and potential jail sentences just waiting to happen. Keeping it simple is the way to go here. Definitely.

OK, so technically speaking, Hargrove might not be an actual criminal type person, not in the strictest sense, because growing weed in not a crime in California, and selling weed is not illegal either unless he doesn't have a business license, and Steve has never actually seen Hargrove selling anyway, but Steve is from the smallest town still called a town in Indiana, so sue him. Hargrove looks like a criminal. His knuckles are always more than a little messed up, and he hangs out with people who give new meaning to the word dubious, and he never seems to be attending courses unless their schedules match and it's the oddest coincidence ever, not that Steve's been keeping track or anything, because that'd be weird and sketchy.

If it were anyone else, Steve would simply let it go, honest, should still let it go now for fuck's sake, but Hargrove has the talent and inclination to get under his skin in ways Steve previously had never anticipated. Like, Steve moved out to California after high school with his ex and his ex's boyfriend, and they all have yet to kill each other. He knows how to keep things mellow. Steve likes Nance, she's one of his best friends, and Byers can be a good dude, but the situation could've turned weird and awkward in all the time they've known each other, never mind that he's pretty sure the only reason he got into college in the first place is because Nancy had the patience and inclination to ride his ass into studying and applying to begin with.

So, yeah, Steve's used to weird and dealing with situations which are just one big pain in the behind, and he's definitely used to weird dynamics he can't quite explain, but Hargrove's something else. Because Steve can't figure him out. Not that he wants to. That'd be a whole 'nother level on top of three AM poor decision-making.

*

It's utterly and completely Jonathan's fault, the asshole.

It goes like this: Steve is being stressed by the first round of deadlines this semester and not coping with it very well through frequent cigarette breaks and constant fidgeting while behind the counter, and Byers is doing a double-shift while they're very obviously short-handed during exam period, thus tensions are beyond high. Nancy sends them both to the back for more filters and cups, and Steve may or may not say something snarky in Jonathan's general direction, and it could be the both of them are a little bit more than just stressed with school, so excuse Steve for trying to lighten the mood. Like, his jokes are bad, total dad jokes, he's the first to admit it, therefore Byers should already be used to this by now and not taking it so personally.

Long story short, it turns into a bitch-fest culminating with Byers very inaccurately pointing out Steve needs to get laid and how Hargrove should be by later. Only Jonathan's face says he's not kidding, and _what_.

Steve tries to deny it. Obviously. The words _I don't have a thing for that douchebag_ exit his mouth somewhere in all of that, and several further words to that effect follow readily enough. Byers frowns and blinks and looks generally dubious at everything Steve has to say on the matter, however, which confuses Steve to no end, because Jonathan is not the sort of dude to mess with you, not really, and not with Steve of all people.

"The snappy comebacks and innuendo don't help your case, man," he finishes tiredly.

For all of that, Steve has no comeback this time around.

Jonathan appears equally distraught and amused by whatever Steve's face is doing. "Were you not aware of that?" he asks vaguely shyly but also kind of like a dick. As if he doesn't know he's ruining Steve's life here with all of this. Shut up, Steve can be dramatic about it in his own head.

Out loud he says, "Uh, no?"

Like, obviously no, Steve was _not_ previously aware there had been anything resembling innuendo in his _anything_ with Hargrove. What the fuck.

"Really? The way you snap at each other and stare for too long didn't tip you off?"

Steve's eyeballs hurt, he's got his eyes open so widely to emphasise the vast amounts of shock and outrage he's feeling.

"Huh."

"Huh? What huh? What?" If he sounds panicked it must be because _he is_. See the aforementioned life-ruining segment of his train of thought.

But Jonathan seems to be done wrecking Steve's brain for the time being. Nancy has the best timing, and drags him away to the front to aid in keeping a gaggle of college kids well-caffeinated into midterm season, leaving Steve alone and gawking at their retreating forms, but not before Byers shoots out a last, "You gonna be OK, man?" to which Steve only gawks some more, but it's a little lost on them once the door leading out front closes behind them.

Well, fuck.

*

In those moments when Steve can be honest with himself way at the back of his noggin where Dustin and Nancy can't read his guilty thoughts, he'll cop to Robin being his best friend, officially, title and everything. Which is why he goes to her the moment his shift ends. Only trouble is getting a hold of her between the gazillion different courses she's either taking or auditing, the part-time job he's holding down at the university library, and the mindless TA work she's scrambling to complete without attracting the wrath of her close-to-tenure-any-day-now professor. He hedges his bets and drops by the library on his way to her place, and, as luck would have it, he catches up to her as she's about to mount her bike, clearly on her way home after another gruelling shift. It's both gratifying and sad to come to the renewed realisation that any campus job becomes Hell during any exam period in the semester.

"Too busy to give a guy the time of day?" he smiles.

She does a double-take, even though he stopped right in front of her, the tiredness around the eyes evident from where he's standing, though she's objectively happy-looking at having run into him.

"I'll pencil you in." It's not a good comeback, but it has him smiling wider anyway. Yeah, best-friend title definitely earned, for real.

They start walking, harried-looking coeds hurrying around them, but it feels as if there're in a bubble among the campus commotion, and Steve knows there won't be a better moment than the one before or after this time. Objectively, he knows this, but he's dreading asking the question. Even in bright and dazzling sunlight, a gorgeous Californian October you can only appreciate after eighteen shitty autumns in Bumfuck, Indiana and Robin walking her bike companionably between them, the question sounds like it's going to erase all the good vibe, and he'll then have to crawl into a hole and die in the aftermath.

Yeah, the drama isn't evaporating as easily as he would like it to from his brain. Robin will be able to see right through him. He goes for it before he can overthink everything for the thousandth time that day.

"Do you think that Hargrove, like, has a thing. For me. Question mark."

It might be his utter lack of inflection there, but Robin stares, blinking slowly and unhurriedly at him for the better part of half a minute as if he's a complete idiot and much more besides. It's only when she says, all deadpan, "What do _you_ think?" that it occurs to him he really is an idiot, though he's having distinctive difficulties pinpointing how much and in what way exactly he's being one.

"Uh, care to elaborate?" he tries.

"Um, care to not be a dumbass?"

"That's hurtful and uncalled for."

She blinks once, frowns, and says, "OK, fair." Then bites her lower lip and scrunches her brows up as if to say, _But you kind of are,_ which may or may not be the case; he's yet to hear a hearty argument from over here, thanks.

After several moments she adds, "You asked me a question, but, like, dude. You're being a bit obtuse here." Steve doesn't get it, which is probably obvious as fuck, because Robin goes on with, "Yes. The answer is yes." Still with the not getting on Steve's part, which Robin obviously notices. "Yes, Billy Hargrove _likes you_ -likes you. There. Happy now?"

Steve needs to sit down.

"Am I sitting down?" he asks. Checking on crap like that suddenly seems _vital_.

"No?" she hazards.

He'll take her word for it. "Then I need to sit down." He nods a couple of times to emphasise the point.

"Right." Her eyes, unnaturally wide, say he needs a lot more besides but that sitting is a good start.

They sit Steve down on the nearest bench, but that doesn't seem to be the end of it.

"So I'm gonna go with complete astonishment on my part at _your_ complete astonishment at the giant crush everyone can see from space."

"Space?"

"Yeah, probably." She pats him on the shoulder awkwardly. It's like getting lightly slapped by a dead fish, only less moist, but Robin's friendship benefits rest somewhere else. "Are you gonna be OK?"

The repetition is neither cute nor funny. He thinks he nods at Robin anyway.

Well, _fuck_. So much fuck. And not in a fun way, despite what his brain is telling him about it getting there.

Fuck _you_ , brain.

*

So he ends up, just a couple of days later, on his last cigarette break of his shift, smoking with Hargrove in the back alley behind The Bean and trying his best not to telegraph how awkward he's feeling about it all. He may have been the one to propose this, he's unsure whether any words coming out of his mouth since his talk with Robin have made any sense at all, but Hargrove must have thought it was a good idea, too, seeing as he's here and all.

Firstly, he should never have agreed to come out here if Hargrove had been the one to bring it up, hypocrisy notwithstanding. Secondly, he should have probably had a more decent amount of sleep the night before just on principle, though midterms happen to everyone and Steve needs all the time he can get to study if he wants to pass with something akin to decent grades. Thirdly, he should have learnt probably around kindergarten to think shit through before saying it, but that boat has sailed a long time ago, clearly.

Which could be why, as Hargrove is preparing to ash his cigarette (not pot this time around, thank fuck, because Steve doesn't need any extra stimulation here) against the nondescript wall in front of them, Steve lets out words which may or may not be, "So I might have a crush on you, but that's only because of your bullshit." (OK, fine, he actually does say those exact words in that exact order. See point three above regarding Steve's inability to think things through. None of this shit should be surprising to any part of his brain.)

That has Hargrove turning towards him, frown on his face and jaw tight. He says, " _My_ bullshit?" all sceptical and vaguely annoyed when Steve should be the one with the highest stakes in annoyance here.

"Yes, your bullshit where you seem like you have a crush on _me_ ," he snaps, though it's less an outburst and more the words escaping his mouth in an avalanche two years in waiting.

Hargrove's face clears up, and Steve is suddenly worried up to and including the moment Hargrove says, "That's because I do." Steve blinks. "Clearly I have very poor taste," he adds, He mutters _you idiot_ under his breath, eyes at half-mast, but it's affectionate-sounding and private. Steve can't help staring and sort of melting a little. He's clearly a dumbass.

Before Hargrove kisses him, Steve's last thought is that he's not wrong there, but comforts himself in knowing they both have awful, _awful_ taste.

**Author's Note:**

> ETA 01/01/2020: And my [ tumblr](https://rhubarbdreams.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
